AfterDawn: News

Pirate Bay judge handpicked and biased - appeal sent

As we reported in couple occasions last month, the judge Tomas Norström in the Pirate Bay case was allegedly biased for being a member of at least two copyright associations. According to TorrentFreak, the defense lawyer Per Samuelsson has now sent a letter to the Court of Appeal addressing the issue of unfair trial.

"I don’t want to say that the randomness of judge selection has been fixed, but the case has been handed to Norström mainly because he is considered an expert on copyright. That raises questions since this is a criminal case. A large majority of the young generation believes that what is going on here is a farce," commented Samuelsson to Swedish news agency, TT.



Usually in Sweden judges are chosen at random which wasn't the case here. Nordström was handpicked because of his expertise in copyright cases even though he has connections with several pro-copyright groups and is a board member of Swedish Association for the Protection of Industrial Property.

"I have a hard time to let go of the thought that he kept quiet about this because he had the intention of using his opinions in the case. I don’t hesitate for a moment when saying that this is bias," added Samuelsson.

The lawyer for Swedish Anti-Piracy Bureau (Svenska Antipiratbyrån) Henrik Pontén didn't want to give a comment on the letter before court decision.

The court's decision should be announced in couple of weeks.

Written by: Matti Robinson @ 29 May 2009 9:15

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• 7 comments

• DXR88

  this doesn't surprise me in the least, he's probably there to buy out the remaining jury

  29.5.2009 12:28 #1

• Stu_dent

  Originally posted by DXR88: this doesn't surprise me in the least, he's probably there to buy out the remaining juryOf course DXR88!
  
  If getting the biased Judge of your choice doesnt work theres always buying the jury, dragging the trial on for years, making up evidence, you name it and they think of it as a way to win!

  29.5.2009 14:16 #2

• Hopium

  making up evidence? if you read the notes from the case the plaintiffs didnt understand their own evidence,(at one point the "technician" tried to explain how tpb worked but couldnt get his laptop to work) they dont need to make it up because they dont even know what the hell they were doing in the first place it was the sloppiest most disgusting presentation of arrogance from the plaintiffs side they could have showed up with nothing and still won this because of the good ol boy network the media industry is running

  29.5.2009 18:58 #3

• glazenuts

  This would not happen in the US. Judges are required to recues themselves when there is a conflict of interest which this surely is.

  5.6.2009 12:58 #4

• DXR88

  Originally posted by glazenuts: This would not happen in the US. Judges are required to recues themselves when there is a conflict of interest which this surely is.? it happens more in the US then any part of the world, when cash flow is in trouble, i don't care where you are big brother is there to bail you out.

  5.6.2009 13:47 #5

• zdamian

  Originally posted by glazenuts: This would not happen in the US. Judges are required to recues themselves when there is a conflict of interest which this surely is.Sad thing is that this can happen almost anywhere in the world. In any legal matter where the arbiter has a vested interest in either side of the matter, whether by direct association or otherwise, should recuse himself from those proceedings. It's very simple, because even the most objevtive of judgments will have the ugly taint of bias.
  
  The worst thing in this case is that Tomas Norström is a senior judge who should have known better. Despite his 'expertise' in copyright cases, he should have known that his board membership in a pro-copyright group alone should exclude him from this matter. As it stands now, whether the case against The Pirate Bay had any merit is of little consequence, because of the appearance of bias by the presiding judge. to add insult to injury, a board member of a group that Norstrom is an active member of gave representation on the plaintiff's side of this matter ....
  
  Seems to me that the deck was stacked against TPB gaining a fair hearing in this matter. And given the eventual verdict despite the prosecution's admittedly weak and porous case, this can prove to be a very embarrassing chapter in Swedish legal history ...

  5.6.2009 16:21 #6

• pmshah

  Of course the judges are biased. How else do you reconcile the fact that in most major cases involving copy right the company with deeper pockets generally wins or the damages awarded are insignificant. Of course there is always more to it than meets the eye!
  
  Just study the cases of Lotus123 vs visi-calc, windows vs apple os and again Lotus123 against Excel.

  5.6.2009 23:19 #7